Work environment at US Air (Pittsburgh, Mexico: sales, bankruptcy, maintenance) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

burghgirl · 09-23-2007, 02:49 PM

Hello again. I was just wondering if anybody has insights on what it's like to work for US Air. Obviously the flight benefits would be fantastic, but are you under constant threat of losing your job, due to the decline in US Air flights out of Pittsburgh over the past several years? What is the corporate culture like at US Air?

DH just applied for a job with US Air, and it got me thinking. THanks in advance for your responses!

MaryS80 · 09-23-2007, 06:29 PM

Would the job even be in Pittsburgh? USAir hasn't just cut back flights, but they also cut back operations. At one point Pittsburgh was a hub city for them, and it no longer is.

I would think its pretty stressful, my stepmom used work in one of their offices in Pittsburgh and the smoking lounge there looked like the lung of someone who smoked two packs a day for 50 years. The people are nice, but things can be stressful.

guylocke · 09-23-2007, 06:30 PM

I wrote this in your Pittsburgh vs. Columbus thread, burghgirl.

Quote:

Hm, US Air and Pittsburgh do not have a good relationship anymore. The fact that they removed their hub from here a decade or so ago still leaves a bitter taste in many local mouths and their sales here are way down as Pittsburghers tend to spurn them. They are continuously scaling back Pittsburgh operations and they were just in the news recently having less than 40% of the market share in Pittsburgh for the first time in history.

That being said, several other airlines are doing quite well now that US Air doesn't have a monopoly on our beautiful airport. Airports that are gaining the most momentum in Pittsburgh while US Air slips include Southwest, Northwest, AirTran, and JetBlue. Our prices have come way down, too, as more competition has been able to find footing. Before US Air left, our fares were extremely high compared to the national average because US Air had such a monopoly, now they are lower than the national average. Overall, despite the loss of about 10,000 jobs, once the dust all settles, I believe we will be better off for it.

Maybe he would feel more secure applying with one of the up-and-coming carriers at Pittsburgh International?

Katarina Witt · 09-23-2007, 07:14 PM

Before US Air left, our fares were extremely high compared to the national average because US Air had such a monopoly, now they are lower than the national average.

Isn't that the truth! I really don't know what the rates are nowadays; the last time we went we used frequent flyer miles. It cost $10 for DH and me to fly there.

guylocke · 09-23-2007, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Isn't that the truth! I really don't know what the rates are nowadays; the last time we went we used frequent flyer miles. It cost $10 for DH and me to fly there.

Yep! They are much, much lower. Just this past year we are now below the national average in terms of flying fares! yay!

South Range Family · 09-24-2007, 12:03 AM

Working for an airline is different than working at a normal company. Every day at 6 AM, our entire business picks up and moves around the world. There is nothing that says it has to come back at night. Less and less of our company has been coming back to Pittsburgh.
There are cities around the Country that do everything they can to steal businesses from other cities. They offer tax breaks, free office space, and new hangars. All they ask for in return is that we bring jobs with us. Every airline, and every company out there is always looking for a better deal. Employees don't matter, the bottom line does.

When USAir was started, it was run by Pittsburghers. All of the work was here, and we had no worries. In the early 90's a southerner named Schofield took over. His loyalties were in North Carolina. That was the first time that Pittsburgh started to get dismantled. Thousands of our jobs were moved to Charlotte (CLT). It didn't take long for people to realise that he was just a bag smasher pretending to be a CEO. The financial damage was already done when a vulture named Wolfe took over the company. The only loyalty he had was to his own wallet. He painted the walls, and polished the turds with plans of selling everything to the highest bidder. He did it several times before at every airline he ran. Sept. 11th ruined those plans and he bailed out after running us into bankruptcy. After that we were owned by the Alabama teachers union. Naturally,
they started to move all of the jobs to Alabama. I'm not sure what really happened here, but we went through a second bankruptcy, and when the dust settled we were owned by a Phoenix Arizona based company. The CEO lives in PHX, and he shut down our East coast corporate headquarters. Do you see a trend here? You get three guesses on what happens next, but the first two don't count.

On a more local and personal note, there is a glimmer of hope for PIT. We just broke ground for an operations center that is supposed to bring some office jobs here. That might be good news for your husband, but doesn't really do me any good. I work in maintenance. I have to be where the airplanes are to work. The more flights they cut, the less planes I see. Though I am seeing another trend. We had a plane beat to death in a hail storm over New Mexico. It flew to PHX. They didn't have the talent to fix the plane and ferried it to PIT. They just ferried a 757 with some galley problems for the same reason. We also have an A321 damaged at LAX in PIT right now for the same reason. Nobody in PHX can fix it. There is a glimmer of hope in my world, but I'm still preparing myself to commute to CLT in the future.

One last thing.. We gave our passengers exactly what they asked for. That was Greyhound prices. Now they complain that they get Greyhound service.

burghgirl · 09-24-2007, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaryS80

Would the job even be in Pittsburgh? USAir hasn't just cut back flights, but they also cut back operations. At one point Pittsburgh was a hub city for them, and it no longer is.

I would think its pretty stressful, my stepmom used work in one of their offices in Pittsburgh and the smoking lounge there looked like the lung of someone who smoked two packs a day for 50 years. The people are nice, but things can be stressful.

Yes, the job is located in Pittsburgh. There was an article in the Trib yesterday stating that US Air is relocating one of their offices to Pittsburgh (from Phoenix) so perhaps that's where this job would be.

I appreciate everyone's honest feedback. We'll see if DH gets an interview for this job!

burghgirl · 09-24-2007, 06:43 AM

South Range Family...wow, thanks for the history on US Air. I guess there is a lot to think about when considering working for an airline. Yeah, I think the new operations center may be where this job will be located, so that's probably a good thing.

Good luck in your situation...are you looking for a new job or are you going to ride out the situation as it is? A commute to Charlotte sounds like it could be a challenge, if you're trying to stay in Pittsburgh.